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Porter Adventist spine surgeon halts surgery mid-procedure due
to contaminated tools: 5 insights
By Mackenzie Garrity
T
he same day the Colorado
Department of Public Health
and Environment released its
disease control investigation at Den-
ver-based Porter Adventist Hospital,
a spine surgeon stopped surgery
mid-procedure due to allegedly dirty
equipment, according to 9 News.
Here are five insights:
1. A 61-year-old patient came to Porter
Adventist Hospital April 4 to under-
go a transforaminal lumbar interbody
fusion, an intensive surgery that lasts
around four to five hours.
However, a few hours into the surgery
time, the patient woke up to discover the
procedure had not been completed.
2. The patient's medical records indi-
cated the surgeon aborted the surgery
after allegedly noticing contaminants
on various instruments. Surgical staff
also reported a "brown-yellowish"
substance on one of the instruments.
3. The CDPHE's report has similar find-
ings to the issue this patient experienced.
The investigation found instruments
used in orthopedic and spine surgeries
were allegedly not sterilized properly.
The hospital notified patients be-
tween the summer of 2016 to April 5,
to get tested for hepatitis and HIV.
4. After the investigation, Porter Ad-
ventist voluntarily suspended all sur-
geries. The hospital has since issued a
statement saying the sterilization stan-
dards have been fixed and surgeries
are resuming.
5. The 61-year-old patient underwent
an HIV test that came back negative and
will be tested for hepatitis soon. The
surgeon and the patient decided to go
to another hospital to finish the surgery,
and the patient is now recovering. n
